Three gears
Why it works
A hamstring tears at the end of a stride at full speed, and the only honest way to get a player there safely is to visit the speed twice on the way. Three runs is the shortest version of that which still reaches full pace before the first team rep does.
Run it
4 MINThree runs each, with a full walk back between them. Four minutes for a squad of twelve if they go in pairs. Stop after three: a fourth run is conditioning, and that is a different period.
Say this
“Six, eight, ten. In that order, every time.”
The number is the whole instruction, and saying it out loud is what stops the first rep being a race.
“Run through the last gate, not to it.”
Decelerating into a line is where the stride shortens and the drill stops training the thing it is for.
“Tall and quiet.”
Loud feet at eight tenths means they are reaching rather than driving, and the fix is posture rather than effort.
Good looks like
- Run one is visibly slower than run three to anybody watching from the side.
- Each run gets faster, with nobody peaking on rep two.
- The last five yards of run three is at full speed, not a slow down.
- Everybody has walked back by the time their turn comes round again.
The mistakes
Going full speed on run one because somebody lined up beside them. Send them one at a time until it settles.
Say: “Six, eight, ten. In that order, every time.”
Slowing down over the last five yards. Move the finish gate back five yards and leave the lane where it is.
Say: “Run through the last gate, not to it.”
Slapping the ground and leaning back. Drop the gear by a tenth until the feet go quiet again.
Say: “Tall and quiet.”
Call it jog, run, fly over ten yards and drop the gates. At this age the win is three different speeds existing at all.
Start run three from a moving start, and have them pull up inside five yards after the last gate so the stop is trained too.